Soccer hooligan accused of murder captured by Colombia police

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After a 17-day manhunt, Colombia police on Saturday announced the capture of the soccer hooligan accused of murdering the father of a fan from a rival team in Bogota.

Carlos Andres Moreno, known as “Toledo”, was arrested in Flandes, Cudinarmarca, the department which wraps around the capital Bogota. He is a lifelong Millonarios fan, and is accused of killing 66-year-old retired army sergeant Pedro Conteras, the father of a Santa Fe supporter, on September 21st.

“The capture of Toledo is a clear message to violent fans,” wrote Rodolfo Palomino, Chief of Police, on twitter. “Sooner or later those who commit crimes… will pay.”

The crime for which Toledo is the chief suspect took place just a few hours before Millonarios played rivals Santa Fe.

According to the authorities, Contreras was waiting in his car for his son, 19, in the Santa Cecilia neighborhood of Engativa, west Bogota, when he saw that his boy was being beaten up by a gang of Millonarios hooligans because he was wearing the red jersey of Santa Fe. After Contreras had got out of the car to defend his son he was stabbed in the chest, allegedly by Toledo, and died soon after.

After the facts of the murder emerged a nationwide manhunt began, with video footage of the crime and police sketches of Toledo saturating the country’s news channels.

“Thanks to the media and social networks, many people, especially Millonarios fans, stood with us and helped us with information in order to identify the suspect and capture him,” said Palomino at a press conference on Saturday.

“We received photos of Toledo and he became a wanted man. We knew the places and the jurisdictions where he might go… we knew about the changes he had made to his appearance to trick the authorities.”

Palomino added that the police would, as promised, be paying $8000 to all those who gave information in the build-up to Toledo’s caputre.

“We really valued the information that led to this capture, and we recognize and applaud the attitude of solidarity shown by many soccer fans,” he said.

Toledo, 25, is allegedly part of a ‘parche’ (hooligan gang) known as the “Pichos”, that operate in Santa Cecilia. According to newspaper Semana, he will also be investigated for a murder that occurred on September 25, 2010, and for “bad behavior” outside of Colombia.

Two days after Contreras’ death, Millonarios hooligans killed two Nacional fans, Carlos Medellin and Javier Rodriguez, in separate incidents. As a result of the deaths the Mayor of Bogota decided to postpone the match between Millonarios and Nacional.

On Friday, the Pope blessed the Millonarios soccer jersey and called for peace throughout the soccer world.